Dark comedy mixes vampires, cannibals and soul- searching

Vampires usually haunt Gothic horror stories, but playwright Greg Kotis goes for dark comedy in “Michael von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards.”

The production by the Ohio State University Department of Theatre continues through Oct. 27 in Drake Center’s Bowen Theatre.

“It takes a lightly comic look at what it would mean for a man to have existed as a cannibal from the medieval period to the present,” said director Jennifer Schlueter, who co-directs with Karie Miller.

“But what the play is really about is what it might mean to be a man in the 21st century with some retrogressive ideas of what women are,” Schlueter said.

Kotis, who wrote the book for the satirical Broadway hit “Urinetown the Musical,” focuses the humor in his vampire comedy on a What: Who: Where: Contact: osu.edu Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and Tuesday through Oct. 27; and 3 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $20, or $18 for senior citizens, faculty, staff, and alumni association members; $15 for college students and children 614-292-2295, theatre.

centuries-old Austrian baron who must eat people or else die.

It was programmed during the Halloween season because “the play takes a dark, campy and playful approach and references things like ‘Dracula’ and the ‘Twilight’ films,” Schlueter said.

OSU added songs and a seven-member singing Chorus of the Recently Eaten to the 110-minute play.

“Kotis was excited about the idea,” Schlueter said. “He was interested in finding a way for the guilt that Michael carries, over all the people he’s eaten and killed, to be more tangible. ... Having a chorus of the dead sing and haunt him makes that tangible onstage.”

OSU senior Dakota Drown plays the title vampire, who seems to be in his 40s but is actually 600 years old.

“Michael is a classy gentleman from the olden days ... who manages to continue living by eating the flesh of his victims,” Drown said. “But he’s more vampire than cannibal.”

Michael and his partner, Sammy (Michael Johnson), began as Austrian soldiers in 1453 fighting against the Ottomans at the final siege of Constantinople. During the siege, their starvation led to cannibalism, which accidentally triggered the secret to eternal life.

In recent decades, they’ve turned to “dating” educated, urban, single women.

“They work together as a team to find victims,” Drown said. “When people started questioning the disappearances, it raised suspicions about who these men are, so they primarily focus in the present on younger women who are desperate or lonely and who don’t have many friends or relatives.”

Spurred by visions of people from his past, Michael struggles with his conscience over the deadly consequences of his need for human flesh.

Claire Snode, an OSU senior, plays two roles: Anna and April.

“April is a cosmopolitan businesswoman and a strong feminist character but very human at the same time,” Snode said.

“Sammy breaks her down mentally a bit, to make her unsettled, to go on a date with Michael, but she’s

“Michael von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards” Ohio State University Department of Theatre Roy Bowen Theatre, Drake Center, 1849 Cannon Drive